WOO HOO 2022! (January & February)

 At the beginning of every year, I always go through a little bit of a funk... The post-Holiday blues, I guess.  But, 2022 is off to a fabulous start, with a great January & February & tons of stuff on the calendar.

JANUARY:

At the start of January, since we were still on Christmas break from school, we filled our days with cousin sleep overs; game nights & sleeping in! 

Once I remove all of the Christmas Holiday decorations, I immediately start looking forward to the next holiday... Valentines Day.  So, out came the Valentines, 3-tier paraphernalia.

One of my dearest friends, Katie Bivens, was having a birthday. It was quite the celebration when she surprised US with a bus trip downtown and tickets to the Dragshow Brunch at the Paramour.  It was THE funnest day & so happy to spend the day with such fabulous women!

One of Delilah's longtime friends surprised her by sending her a real, snail-mail letter & asking her to be pen pals! It was the neatest thing ever, & of course Delilah was over the moon excited and wrote her back immediately!

Since we missed our camping trip in November of 2021, we decided to take a quick trip to a nearby site... Mystic Quarry, in Canyon Lake.  It was the perfect way to relax & reset!

On our way home, a quick stop for lunch at Sandra's Cantinia:

Arlon Seay hosted a Donuts with Dads... one of their favorite breakfasts!

As most know, the Real Estate Market has really been in high gear this past year or so.  I was honored to be recognized as a Top Producer, with Texas Premier Realty. We had a wonderful dinner in San Antonio and then a fun awards ceremony where both me & Tanya Ramos were given a "trophy".

The following weekend was a crazily hectic but great one!  Jett participated in a Lego League competition and then both he & Delilah had baseball/softball try outs. Whew!

Since Rich had spent several nights in a row at the Station, we decided that we would surprise them at school, with their favorite lunch!

And, just a few stragglers from the month of January:

FEBRUARY:

Another great month of running at 100 miles per hour, in all different directions.  Wouldn't have it any other way.

The first of the month started off with a bang as we received in the mail a FANTASTIC surprise!  Jett was honored with the Superintendent's Student of The Month award.  It came with a nice letter from the Superintendent, Mr. Kim; a bumper sticker; and even some of his very own business cards that he can hand out to all of his friends.  At the end of the month, at the ASES Maverick Madness Assembly, Jett was called up on stage and acknowledged once again for being such an amazing kid!

One of Delilah's most favorite times of year is the Annual Daddy Daughter Dance held at Spring Branch Middle School.  We bought her a special dress and a corsage.  Daddy dressed up in his Firefighter Blues suit and took her to dinner at The Branch.  Then, they spent the evening dancing their hearts out.  Such special memories made!

Rich & I really wanted to do something nice for Valentines.  So, instead of going out to a fancy restaurant, we decided to host an intimate, Chef cooked meal, here at our home.  I decorated the tables; made a couple of appetizers; used my Mom & Dad's China for the place settings; and had some cute parting gifts for our neighbors & friends.  It was an amazing evening of fantastic food, wine & tons of laughs.

Valentine's Day was fun!  I put Delilah's hair in a heart-shaped ponytail; they took treats to school for their classmates & teachers & we also added a little something different this year. On February 1st we started putting a heart with a special word on it, taped to their bedroom doors.  We did that every day, until the 14th.  They enjoyed waking up every morning to see what we word we were going to use to describe them. We also joined the twins at school for "Lunch with Loved Ones".  We brought them and their teacher's Panda Express & enjoyed our time with them. After school we opened a few gifts; ate chocolates and had a quiet evening in.

For the February break from school this year we went on a camping trip to one of our favorite spots... Lake Texana, in Edna, Texas.  The Ulrich's joined us for several days of hiking, gator spotting, fires, laughter & friends.

Tanya Ramos, my coworker, & I had the opportunity to spend a morning volunteering with the PT50 Day of Service at "Snak Pak 4 Kids".  We packed over 3,000 snack bags for young children & also met some really neat people.

Rich & I rounded out the month by cashing in on my Christmas present. We spent a Sunday afternoon at the Ab Astris Winery, in Stonewall, doing a few wine tastings.  The Bates' went with us, and we met up with Jaston, Katie & Adrian and then continued on to Narrow Path Winery, dinner in Blanco & then finished the day with ice cream made from water buffalo milk.

A few left-over photos from February: